Closed Tests And Murderfests: Overwatch Beta Details

I’ve been a bit down on what we’ve seen of Blizzard’s upcoming FPS Overwatch [official site] in gameplay videos – it looks too spammy with a cacophony of sound effects and more flash than a Flaming Lips gig – but I’m still curious. If anyone will rework and revisit a game until it’s all shiny and fine, it’s Blizzard.

So sure, I’ll toss my name into the hat for beta access, which Blizzard have announced will begin on October 27th – in North America, anyway. They’re planning weekend stress tests inviting everyone too, with the first coming after November’s BlizzCon.

Prepare to wait, though. Blizzard say the number of folks let in at first “will be extremely limited” so they can get focused feedback. They “may” gradually add players over time, and I’d be surprised if they didn’t – that’s the classic Blizzard beta way. This closed testing will begin for players in the North American region on October 27th, but all Blizzard have to say about Europe and Asia is they will “follow”.

That’s okay, though. They’re also planning beta test weekends when they let all and sundry in to shoot faces, though they’ll have limited maps, modes, characters, and so on. Blizzard say the first of these will come some time after BlizzCon, which this year is November 6th and 7th.

Unlike me, Graham has actually played Overwatch so he’s almost certainly a more useful opinionspout here. Here’s a video from Blizzard a few months back showing one character Graham played with: